by Charles Noble on December 30, 2007
Arguably one of the great violists of the 20th/21st century, Kim Kashkashian has made many critically-acclaimed recordings (almost all on ECM New Series) of both the standard repertoire and new works, many written especially for her. Born in Detroit, she was a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md., but ended up spending [...]
by Charles Noble on December 29, 2007
The Seattle Times’ classical music critic Melinda Bargreen reports on the bizarre classical music news that occurred around the world in 2007. Unfortunately (and am I sensing a pattern here?) she neglected to mention a couple items from her own backyard:
by Charles Noble on December 28, 2007 · 4 comments
John Terauds, the classical music critic for the Toronto Star, writes in a recent column that younger audiences are turned off by crossover efforts, and just want the “straight stuff”.
by Charles Noble on December 28, 2007
David Stabler
David Stabler, the classical music critic of the Oregonian newspaper, has listed his top classical music happenings of 2007.
by Charles Noble on December 21, 2007 · 3 comments
An article that I’d heard about but not read until today – it’s in this week’s Seattle Weekly, and ostensibly it’s a review (by the excellent writer/critic Gavin Borchert) of the Chiara Quartet’s concerts in two completely different Seattle venues: Meany Hall and the Tractor Tavern.
This is the review that did it for me – New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini fairly wetting himself over the Philharmonic debut of conductor it-boy of this decade, Gustavo Dudamel.
by Charles Noble on November 28, 2007
Douglas McLennan has written a very interesting blog entry about his take on the state of the fine arts in this country, which might include the fact that classical music and/or the fine arts might be the next mass cultural phenomenon. Far fetched? Maybe, but his decidedly non “the sky is falling” approach [...]
by Charles Noble on November 25, 2007
I just ran across this story from the Salt Lake Tribune about the possible succession of Keith Lockhart as music director of the Utah Symphony by their former principal conductor Pavel Kogan. Kogan was also a candidate for music director here in Oregon, but Carlos Kalmar was chosen instead.
by Charles Noble on November 19, 2007 · 3 comments
UPDATE: Oregonian music critic David Stabler gives his expanded list of Poets/Scientist conductors here.
Last night we played our second of four iterations of the Classical 6 program (three in Portland and a run-out to Salem on Tuesday night) under the direction of Finnish guest conductor Hannu Lintu. I was recently reading another blog which [...]
Oregonian classical music critic David Stabler has posted his list of 10 guest artists that he’d like to see at the Oregon Symphony. It’s a good list – I’d add Jonathan Biss, pianist; Tabea Zimmerman, violist (I know, I know…); Janine Jansen, violinist; and Daniel Barenboim, conductor/pianist, among others…
by Charles Noble on November 6, 2007
Oregonian classical music critic David Stabler just wrote an entry on his blog which talks about the recent Crosscut article and his take on the state of the orchestra.
He comes out swinging on the merits of the piece:
Stephen Beaudoin is right about one thing in his doomy Crosscut piece about the Oregon Symphony. The orchestra [...]
by Charles Noble on November 6, 2007 · 1 comment
Stephen Beaudoin has written a response to much of the criticism which greeted his initial article on Crosscut. You can find the response here.
His suggestions:
Get into the community.
Bring in a composer-in-residence.
Put the music in context.
Bring in hotter artists.
Use Thomas Lauderdale in a full and meaningful way.
I agree whole-heartedly with #1. We spend a [...]
by Charles Noble on November 6, 2007
Terry Teachout writes on the demise of the professional arts critic in his piece for Commentary Magazine entitled “The Amateur as Critic”. It’s worth a look.
by Charles Noble on November 6, 2007
[This was forwarded to me by OSO president Elaine Calder - a truncated version will be published at Crosscut.com.]
Response to: “Can Anybody fix the Oregon Symphony?â€
Stephen Marc Beaudoin
Crosscut Seattle
Friday, November 2nd, 2007
Of course it will take more than an endorsement from Thomas Lauderdale to fix the Oregon Symphony. But Thomas is a subscriber [...]